I read a great deal on the subject of food and nutrition since I started this initiative. Partly because I want to be healthier and partly because I am always looking for topics to write about. Here are some tidbits I have unearthed in my reading and television viewing that underscore the problems we have eaten ourselves into.
Currently over 1 in 4 Americans are obese and in the south, it's 1 in 3. Some estimate that by the year 2030, 42% may be morbidly obese. What is morbidly obese? The definition of morbid obesity is having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 35 or above (Obese is 30-34.9). This corresponds to being about 100 pounds over your ideal body weight, depending on your height and body type. What is BMI you ask? Some Belgian dude back in the 1800's came up with the formula and it is rather complicated. Body weight in pounds * 703/ height in inches squared. Got that? Me either. Here is a link to more easily figure your BMI, http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/. Mine is currently 47.8. It will be at 29.2 when I reach my goal. It has been as high as 72.4. Think about the statement above though. 40% of America could be around 100 pounds overweight by 2030. I guess social security has found its fix to under-funding. 40% will be dying young anyway.
In the last 15 years, Americans have added an average of 300 calories per day to their diets. We have put on over 2 billion lbs. in that time frame, an average of about 5.7 lbs per person. That number is figured on the total population, so if you factor out infants and toddlers, it has to be even more.
We are bombarded with advertising for cheeseburger stuffed crust pizzas, burgers with more meat than a family of 4 needs and growing fads like cupcakes and fix your own frozen yogurt bars. The fast food restaurants know it's bad. Why do you think they offer options guised as 'healthier'? Consider baked sweet potatoes (topped with a cinnamon butter spread) and salads that have MUCH more fat, calories and salt than a Big Mac. What I find appalling is not that we are offered such poison, but that we greedily gobble it up.I seldom preach here. It is my goal to give insight into my life, inform, educate and entertain. The above info isn't a condemnation of anyone that partakes in the daily party that is American dining. It is just some facts that will hopefully add to your awareness and improve your decisions. America is indeed a food addict. Our pushers are welcomed into our home via TV, internet and print media. I always thought Nancy Reagan had the right idea, only I found her approach a tad rude. Pardon me Nancy, just say "No thank you."
What I ate today and how I exercised:
Breakfast ~ Amy's Southwestern Burrito
Lunch ~ Leftover eggplant tomato stew over brown rice (recipe this Thursday)
Snack ~ Grande Mocha Lite Decaf Frappuccino
Dinner ~ Whole grain pasta w/veggie 'meat' crumbles and Amy's Low Sodium Family Marinara
Dessert ~ 1 banana
Exercise ~ 20 minutes walking
First of all, the BMI index does not account for bone density or physical fitness and is generally not reliable. That being said, the fact remains that American are growing and growing and growing and soon half of America will be obese and taxing our already crumbling health care system. Why do we keeping shoveling it in? Because we're sheep and most people just plain don't wanna know because if it feels good, we'll do it. And the food industry knows that if they keep us in a food fog all the time, we won't be able to snap ourselves out of it. That's what I'm hoping to do when I'm finished with school, bring 'food addiction' into everyday parlance and, yes, people, it is rampant food addiction. No, it's not heroin or cocaine, but it acts upon the reward centers of the brain and involving dopamine, all the same mechanisms involved in alcoholism and drug addiction and it's plenty powerful. - Tabitha
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